Lieutenant Colonel Thomas F. Jasper Jr. was born on 1 June 1970 in Champaign, Illinois and attended elementary and high school in Elgin, Illinois. Upon graduating from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) in May 1993 with Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees in Political Science and History, he attended The John Marshall Law School (Chicago, Il) and earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in June 1997. He was admitted to the Illinois State Bar in November 1997.

In January 1998, LtCol Jasper was accepted to OCS (OCC Law) where he earned a commission as Second Lieutenant in April 1998. Graduating from The Basic School in October 1998 and Naval Justice School in December 1998, he received orders to Cherry Point, North Carolina.

At Cherry Point, LtCol Jasper served as Legal Assistance OIC and Defense Counsel. He then received orders to 1FSSG, Legal Services Support Section (LSSS), at Camp Pendleton in July 2001. At Camp Pendleton, LtCol Jasper worked as trial counsel on MAG-39 cases from July 2001 to December 2002. He then deployed to OIF I from December 2002 to July 2003 as both Operations Officer with CCSG-151 and then Battalion Judge Advocate for 1st Bn 4th Marines performing civil military legal operations in Al Hillah, Iraq. Upon his return from OIF I in July 2003, LtCol Jasper was assigned as Senior Defense Counsel for LSSS Echo.

Transferring from Camp Pendleton to Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) in June 2004, LtCol Jasper served as MCBH Senior Defense Counsel while defending more court-martial cases at both Camp Pendleton and Okinawa until May 2005. In June 2005, LtCol Jasper was assigned as MCBH Military Justice Officer. In May 2006 LtCol Jasper became MCBH Deputy Staff Judge Advocate performing installation and civil law duties until June 2007.

In 2007, LtCol Jasper reported to The U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia to attend the 56th Graduate Course and earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Military Law with an International and Operational Law specialty. From summer 2008 to summer 2010, LtCol Jasper served as the 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit SJA, culminating in a humanitarian aid/earthquake response deployment to Haiti for Operation Unified Response.

From July 2010 to May 2012, LtCol Jasper served as the Regional Defense Counsel, Eastern Region, where he litigated and supervised defense counsel in courts martials in all Eastern Region Marine installations and Afghanistan. In April 2012, LtCol Jasper reported to 1st MLG duty as Officer-In-Charge of Legal Team Delta and Legal Team Echo – the two trial teams responsible for prosecuting courts-martial for commands at Camp Pendleton, CA. In August 2012, LtCol Jasper was reassigned to MCI-W to stand up a complex trial team while serving as the first Regional Trial Counsel for the Western Region where he was primarily responsible for prosecutions of the Western Region’s most serious cases.

In August 2014, LtCol Jasper was assigned as Detailed Defense Counsel in the Military Commission case of United States v. Hadi al Iraqi. He served as lead defense counsel until October 2015 until his reassignment to Judge Advocate Division, USMC, where he currently serves as the Civil and Administrative Law Branch Head.